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URGENT—Bad GMO Bill on Fast Track

The plan appears to be to rush Sen. Pat Roberts’ voluntary GMO labeling legislation through Congress before opposition can form. We may only have days to stop it. Urgent Action Alert!

Last week, we reported that another voluntary labeling bill in the Senate was in the works, introduced by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS). Last Friday the bill was released, and it has already been scheduled for a mark-up— the moment when a committee debates and amends a piece of legislation. This means the bill could be considered by the full Senate as early as this Friday.

The speed with which this bill is moving through Congress is a testament to the power of the biotech industry and Big Food lobby, which is desperate to pass voluntary labeling legislation before Vermont’s mandatory labeling law goes into effect. When crony forces push hard enough, Congress can move fast: it is rare for such a major bill to be in the mark-up phase just seven days after being introduced.

Sen. Roberts’ bill has some minor differences with the House-passed Pompeo bill, but the main points are the same: the bill would preempt mandatory labeling efforts by the states and institute instead a voluntary labeling standard, a standard which Big Food can ignore.

The alarming rate at which this bill is moving means we must act now to stop this attempt to thwart the will of a majority of voters to know what is in their food.